Clark Gregg
Clark Gregg
Robert Clark Gregg, known professionally as Clark Gregg, is an American actor, screenwriter and director. He has played Phil Coulson in the Marvel Cinematic Universe, appearing in Iron Man, Iron Man 2, Thor, The Avengers, and the television series Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D.. He also voices the character on the animated television series Ultimate Spider-Man and in the video games Lego Marvel Super Heroes, Lego Marvel Avengers and Marvel Heroes...
NationalityAmerican
ProfessionMovie Actor
Date of Birth2 April 1962
CityBoston, MA
CountryUnited States of America
I'd be just another Marvel fan, only with a little bit bigger smile, when I would get the script and be like, "Oh, my gosh, Agent Coulson knows that?
There's a different set of writers and a different director for the films, but Marvel has turned it into a pretty spectacular job.
There was a day on the set of Iron Man where I said, "I remember some of this stuff. I definitely had some Iron Man books. But, S.H.I.E.L.D. is a little bit of a weak spot for me."
The tremendous Jeremy Latcham from Marvel showed up with this one-of-a-kind animated encyclopedia about S.H.I.E.L.D. and The Avengers. Coulson wasn't a part of the comic books, which is a singular thing about him that I thought would get me killed off very quickly, but luckily, it didn't. It just became a thing that I fit into, and they kept finding new and better uses for me.
When Marvel put together Ultimate Spider-Man and someone came up with the idea of having Principal Coulson, they said, "Do you want to do the voice?" I thought, "I have to do the voice!" Because I have a daughter and we watch some cartoons, I couldn't bear the idea of tuning in and hearing somebody else's voice.
To go from Jon Favreau for Iron Man 1 and 2 to Kenneth Branagh for Thor and the very different world of Thor, it's about how to adapt to Coulson in a different setting and a different world while, at the same time, still have him be a part of the same world.
The world of Ultimate Spider-Man is funny. I can't imagine a live-action film where he's Principal Coulson and dealing with some of the pranks from these guys.
Agent Coulson takes the work very seriously. He certainly has some fun with Spider-Man and the others, but he takes each of their tasks, including when they get involved with the drama club, way too seriously. The adventures that they come up with are really exciting.
It was cool to me, as a fan of the comics, to see some of the villains that end up finding them there, and the way that they abuse Coulson before the superheroes come. I'm always, in the movies or in the animated series, getting into trouble that a superhero has to bail me out of.
With the tone of the show, like a lot of the films, the Marvel creative team has found a way to bridge really exciting stuff that has real stakes. They balance some of the action stuff that the fans of the comics really want to see with characters that people can relate to and who are very human.
The great thing about Coulson is that he's a little bit like a party game, where the next person who gets ahold of him gets to write another sentence. I'm constantly learning more and more about the guy.
I felt like people really do their best work when they're having a really good time and feel safe to push the envelope and make a jackass out of themselves.
There's something about the superheroes and the idea behind their relationship with humans, whether it's a metaphor for the better part of ourselves, or the more flawed part of ourselves. So it seems to really be our own pop-culture version of Greek mythology.
When there wasn't a lot of work, I wrote a screenplay, 'What Lies Beneath,' which got noticed and got me more acting jobs. As I got more jobs, I was able to make my own films. That ethos of making my own work has provided me with a lot of opportunities.